A Warning From Curry County Sheriff - How Bad Is It? (Brookings: 2014, neighborhood)

[Steve Pickering]

"House Bill 2475 would set up a process for the governor to declare a public safety services emergency if a county can't provide some minimum level of sheriff's patrols and jail capacity."


That is what one website reports. But a search for OR HB2475 produced three unrelated bills from 2007 to 2013.

Chapter 9 of the U.S. bankruptcy code allows individuals and municipalities (cities, towns, villages, etc.) to declare bankruptcy. But that doesn't include states or counties. (The statute defines "municipality" as a "political subdivision or public agency or instrumentality of a State"—that is, not a state itself.)

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

"House Bill 2475 would set up a process for the governor to declare a public safety services emergency if a county can't provide some minimum level of sheriff's patrols and jail capacity."


That is what one website reports. But a search for OR HB2475 produced three unrelated bills from 2007 to 2013.

Chapter 9 of the U.S. bankruptcy code allows individuals and municipalities (cities, towns, villages, etc.) to declare bankruptcy. But that doesn't include states or counties. (The statute defines "municipality" as a "political subdivision or public agency or instrumentality of a State"—that is, not a state itself.)

So cities can but counties cannot. Thanks for educating me on that, Steve.

[Redrock5]

Well, fast forward, and here we are in September. We were north of Brookings, parked in a pull out and had hiked down to the beach to enjoy the late afternoon after a glorious day hiking, watching the whales, yaddayadda. We return to find my wife's Prius' back window popped out and shattered by a screwdriver and her (hidden) purse gone along with perhaps $40, her $3K camera still there though.
I need not emphasize the feelings and trouble that go along with this.
I called 911 and the operator informed me there was ONE deputy on patrol in the entire county. A couple of clicks on the map and I figure Curry has to be about 70 miles in length. One deputy! You have to be kidding me!! He then went on to tell me that they'd be in touch with me in due course; well, here we are, Wednesday evening and nary a peep so far.

My question is, as a % of the overall tax bill, how much would they have to increase to put things back to 'normal'?

As regards to the comment that many people in Curry Co are poverty stricken, I'm sorry, I don't see this argument holding water. Few people at this level are property owners, they rent. So an increase in Real estate taxes will impact them little, if at all. Landlords will charge what the market will bear regardless of their costs, I should know, I'm one myself.

Good luck trying to sell a home here if things keep going this way.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by Redrock5

As regards to the comment that many people in Curry Co are poverty stricken, I'm sorry, I don't see this argument holding water. Few people at this level are property owners, they rent. So an increase in Real estate taxes will impact them little, if at all. Landlords will charge what the market will bear regardless of their costs, I should know, I'm one myself.

People in Rural Oregon actually do tend to be property owners vs. Renters though. Property is frequently passed down in families. There are also boom and bust cycles, people get a huge amount of money somehow and they invest it in land as a safe commodity. People barter for goods and services to keep their costs down. Farmers can live near the poverty line, but have an annual income of several hundred thousand, because all that money gets put back into the farm through expenses. People had a great job ten or twenty years ago, and purchased houses back then. Now they're barely making the mortgage payments while working minimum wage.

If everyone was renters, you'd see huge apartment complexes around small towns. If nothing else a few big management companies would have taken advantage of high renter populations and built something there. Instead apartments are hard to find and when they are available, are usually badly taken care of. Here is an example: Zero Apartments available in Brookings Oregon right now.

[Steve Pickering]

Curry County does have a disproportionate number of very low or no income residents.

[oldtrader]

Note the high poverty rate in the rural school districts, which breaks down the population better than anything else.

• Per capita U.S. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2012, by state | Statistic

[nardoman]

I think you spelled disproportionate right, Steve. Yup. Port Orford is known as a "drinking town with a fishing problem"

It's pretty obvious once you actually live down there. If you do aspire to live in Curry County and you actually have money, you will be up in the hills and away from the riff raff, no doubt. See the Redrock5 post above for confirmation on that. And see that? Those dumb tweakers don't even know what to look for in Redrock5's car that's worth stealing. They left the expensive camera behind. DUH. Very typical behavior down there. Low low low IQ points.

Here's how it goes: It's dark out. Any money they had that could have bought a battery for their flashlight was spent on METH. And..... Repeat behavior again....

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by nardoman

And see that? Those dumb tweakers don't even know what to look for in Redrock5's car that's worth stealing. They left the expensive camera behind. DUH. Very typical behavior down there. Low low low IQ points.

They're not as dumb as you think. In a small town like that trying to sell the camera will be impossible. "Everyone" knows that the camera is stolen. If someone who is habitually poor suddenly comes into a pawn shop with an expensive camera, it's pretty obvious it's stolen without even checking the police reports. There are no large cities nearby to fence goods discretely, and the time involved would be too long to get their fix in. That's why they went for the cash.

Most stolen items are taken to the next largest city out of state and sold there because stolen goods reports rarely cross state lines. You'll see trucks full of stolen bikes going between Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco for this reason. Stuff stolen in Chicago will end up in New York area. It's actually a fairly time intensive operation, even when adding in Craigslist and eBay.

[JGC97]

I'm the OP and I didn't ask if things were worse. I asked if things are as bad as reported in the article.

Any time a city budget can't keep officers on the streets, crime goes up. A city here in California got so bad, they had to bring in staff from outside agencies - CHP - to help. I think they were considering also declaring a curfew but they didn't do it.

Sorry to read about your auto break-in Redrock. Things are bad everywhere. We have armed security in our grocery store parking lots now.

[gonpostal]

I know this may sound dumb, but A LOT of my grandmother's belongings are in The Curry County Historical Museum in Gold Beach. There's a sewing machine from before Oregon reached statehood. My question is, should I be concerned enough to get her things out? Would anyone break into a museum?